MICHIGAN STATE SANITARY FAIR. By amount received, admission tickets, for Sanitary Hall...... $1,213 15 454 25 11,097 40 Total....... $12,764 80 Debit. To amount paid Kellogg & Co. for lumber for buildings...... $1,243 91 502 11 ........ To Kalamazoo Horse Association for rent of ground.... 276 50 To supplies for dining tables... 1,123 50 To "Kalamazoo Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society" 2,900 00 To "United States Christian Commission," Detroit.. 2,900 00 To "Michigan Soldiers' Relief Committee," Detroit...... To "Michigan Soldiers' Relief Association," Washington City, per Hon. J. M. Edmunds....... To cash, balance on hand...... 2,900 00 600 00 318 78 Total..... $12,764 80 H. G. WELLS, S. W. WALKER, JOHN POTTER, Executive Com. Michigan State Sanitary Fair. KALAMAZOO, November 10, 1864. Among the various associations instituted during the war for the relief of the sick and wounded soldier, the "Christian Commission" loomed up as a great auxiliary in the great and good work. Possessing an immense strength and energy, with true devotion, it competed most successfully as a sanitary organization, uniting therewith the religious instruction and admonition of good men to the living, and administering kindly consolation to those who were being called away forever. The following report of the Michigan branch for 1864 finds a proper place at this time: TO JOHN ROBERTSON, Adjutant-General State of Michigan: In accordance with your request, the Michigan branch of the U. S. Christian Commission beg leave to report the nature and extent of its work in behalf of the armies of the Union for the past year. The commission in this State was first organized on the 15th of June, A. D. 1863, but has practically been in operation but a single year. It had no part in the great work of the Christian Commission at Gettysburg in July, 1863, except that some of our citizens were commissioned at Philadelphia, and acted as delegates on that field. Its first funds of any large amount were received from the thanksgiving collections of last year, which were nearly all poured into our treasury. Since that time the operations of this branch have been steadily enlarging, its resources increasing, and its plan and system of working gaining the favor and approbation of the people. The plan of the commission is to minister both to the mental and spiritual, as well as the bodily wants of the army. It sends the living preacher, the Bible, and the religious newspapers of all denominations, and all the time it is ministering to the temporal wants of the soldier, and working for the sick, wounded, and dying. It searches for the wounded amid the thickets of the battle-field, and never leaves him till he is discharged from hospital, or a prayer consigns him to a soldier's grave. All the delegates of the commission are ministers and laymen, selected for their fitness for the work, who labor each six weeks without any compensation, except the consciousness of doing good. All that is given to the commission is dispensed personally by these delegates, and placed by their own hands in the hands of the soldier-not handed over to be dispensed by officials of the Government, or salaried agents of the commission. This branch of the commission has received from the people down to this time $21,725.20, most of which has been forwarded to the central office at Philadelphia. Stores have been contributed and forwarded to the armies from Michigan amounting in value to about $10,000. Michigan furnished to us the following delegates, fifty-seven in number, nearly all of whom have spent their full term of six weeks in the work of the commission: William Harvey, Detroit, Army of the Cumberland. Rev. George Duffield, Jr., Adrian, Army of the Potomac. A. S. Berry, Adrian, Army of the Potomac. Rev. Daniel E. Brown, Flint, Army of the Cumberland. Rev. H. N. Bissell, Mount Clemens, Army of the Cumberland. Rev. John Pierson, Milford, Army of the Potomac. Rev. S. L. Ramsdell, Northville, Army of the Potomac. O. F. Shannon, Fairwater, Wisconsin, Army of the Potomac. E. C. WALKER, Chairman. CALEB IVES, FRANCIS RAYMOND, J. S. VERNOR, Army Com. of the U. S. Christign Com. for Michigan. VOLUNTEER SURGEONS. There were times during the war when battles came thick and fast; when rebel bullets felled men like grain in harvest; when the Medical Department of the Government, with all its accustomed foresight and immense resources, with vast preparations to meet coming emergencies, failed in supplying the demand for surgeons in the field, and when the wounded were threatened with extreme suffering; but this deficiency was readily and cheerfully supplied by the medical men of the land. The surgeons of Michigan, without fee or proffer of reward, and at much sacrifice, never failed in promptly and substantially responding on these occasions. The following extract from a report made in 1864 by Dr. Joseph Tunnicliff, of Jackson, then State agent at Washington, to the Adjutant-General, sets forth their readiness for this service: "The Potomac Army, under command of Lieutenant-General Grant, crossed the Rapidan May 5, 1864, and from that day onward to about the 10th day of June, there occurred a nearly continuous succession of battles, so frequent that it is a common remark of the soldiers returned from that campaign that it seemed to them like one continuous battle. "Certain it is that the entire region, from the Rapidan to Cold Harbor, was a continuous battle-ground. Three hundred thousand men, in daily and nightly conflict for thirty-five days, produced of necessity a host of wounded, who demanded from not only the Government but the people every possible assistance. "Not only the Government ambulances and wagons but every other pos 209 sible means of transportation which could be devised were resorted to by the sick and wounded to reach Fredericksburg, the newly-established base and depot of supplies. "On the 12th day of May I received from you, General, on behalf of the Governor, the following telegram: "To J. TUNNICLIFF, JR., Michigan State Agent: 'The Governor directs that you make every exertion to take care of the Michigan wounded soldiers. Employ sufficient assistance to do so, and use what money may be necessary. Should from the State, inform by telegraph, and acknowledge the receipt of this you need any number of assistants dispatch by telegraph.' "Upon receipt of the above, and after consultation with General Joseph K. Barnes, Surgeon-General-who, permit me to add, is precisely the right man in the right place-I dispatched the following reply: "GENERAL ROBERTSON-Sir: Your telegram is received. Large provision has already been made by the Surgeon-General and the various sanitary commissions to meet the requirements. I have forwarded Mrs. Brainard and Miss Wheelock, with three assistants and twenty boxes of sanitary stores, to Fredericksburg, on the 10th instant. The Surgeon-General directs me to say that he will accept the services of ten (10) experienced surgeons, fully equipped for ten (10) days' service in the field. Direct them to report at this office. I have made provision to have them forwarded.' "It is with no ordinary pride that I record the fact, that in response to this invitation, thirty-three surgeons, with their assistants, left their business and the comforts of home to volunteer their services, without compensation, to aid their suffering countrymen at this trying period, and among them are many of the most eminent surgeons of our State. I deem it but just that I should append their names: "Drs. Alonzo B. Palmer, Ann Arbor; D. L. Davenport, E. M. Clark, Detroit; Edward Cox, Z. L. Slater, Battle Creek; C. F. Ashley, W. G. Cox, A. F. Kinney, Ypsilanti; W. B. Smith, Ann Arbor; Gordon Chittock, F. M. Reasnor, Jackson; R. B. Gates, George Barnes, Chelsea; S. C. Willie, East Saginaw; M. F. Baldwin, Flint; Stephen Griggs, E. W. Goodwin, Detroit; E. Church, Marshall; R. H. Davis, Mason; James C. Willson, Flint; H. C. Farrand, East Saginaw; J. E. Smith, Portland; John Smith, Pontiac; J. E. Wilson, Rochester; F. B. Galbraith, C. C. Jerome, Port Huron; O. F. Burroughs, Galesburg; J. P. Nash, Marshall; W. L. Stillwell, Kalamazoo; S. Lathrop, Pine Burr; H. C. Fairbank, Grand Blanc; E. R. Ellis, and L. DePuy, Grand Rapids. "Thousands of the soldiers of our army-for their labors were not restricted to the soldiers of our State-will remember so long as the pulses of life flow, with grateful hearts, the unselfish devotion and skill with which this body of volunteer surgeons labored to relieve them. "They were not all assigned to duty at Fredericksburg; for, as the army advanced, some of them were sent to the White House, and many of them to City Point. Most of them remained so long as their services were needed, and I regret to add that a number of them returned in a greatly impaired state of health. "The following young gentlemen, students of medicine and surgery, forwarded by the citizens of Ann Arbor, reported as volunteer dressers, June 1st, were accepted by the Surgeon-General, and sent to duty in hospitals at City Point: Messrs. O. Marshall, M. O. Bently, P. Martin, J. K. Johnson, N and D. V. Dean. They all did well-indeed, most of them were so well liked by the medical officers in charge that they were soon employed as assistant surgeons, and placed in charge of surgical wards. It may be well to add here that these young men had nearly completed their course of study preparatory to graduation. The people of Ann Arbor may well feel proud of their contribution. It was what money could not purchase." SOLDIERS' VOTE IN THE FIELD. In accordance with an act of the Legislature, approved February 5th, 1864, to enable the qualified electors of this State in the military service to vote at certain elections, the same were held amongst the Michigan troops in the service of the United States on the 7th day of November, 1864. They took place under the supervision of the commissioners appointed in the following letter of the Executive, and were conducted in compliance with the instructions therein contained: STATE OF MICHIGAN, EXECUTIVE OFFICE, LANSING, October 14, 1864. The several commissioners appointed and commissioned under the act entitled "An act to enable the qualified electors of the State in the military service to vote at certain elections, and to amend sections 45 and 61 of chapter 6 of the compiled laws," are directed immediately to make and file with the Secretary of State the oath of office required by law, and on or before the 25th day of October instant to report at the office of the AdjutantGeneral in Detroit, where the necessary poll-books, blank forms, certificates, and instructions, together with copies of the law, will be furnished them. Having been so furnished, the commissioners will immediately proceed to the places where the work assigned them is to be performed. In the performance of their duties they will take the oath of office as the guide, and will do their duty " impartially, fully, and without reference to political preferences or results." It will be proper for them to carry printed ballots with them for the use of the electors of whatever party; but the act forbids them to attempt in any manner to influence or control the vote of any soldier. Such printed ballots may also be left at the office of the Adjutant-General in Detroit, to be delivered to the commissioners, or they may be delivered directly to the commissioners themselves. In the apportionment of the work it has been found very difficult to make it equal or even to cover the whole ground. The commissioners are therefore required, if necessary, to assist each other, and wherever small bodies of Michigan troops are found with whom no commissioner is present to act as such. The work is apportioned among the commissioners as follows: ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. David B. Harrison, Mason, 26th infantry, 1st division, 2d army corps, near Petersburg, Va. M. D. Hamilton, Monroe, 7th infantry, 2d division, 2d army corps, and company B, 2d U. S. S. S., 1st division, 3d army corps, near Petersburg, Va. Edwin C. Hinsdale, Detroit, 5th infantry, 3d division, 2d army corps, and companies C, I, and K, 1st U. S. S. S., in the same division, near Petersburg, Va. John S. Estabrook, East Saginaw, 1st and 16th infantry, 1st division, 5th army corps, near Petersburg, Va. |